Leon Wainwright, Art and ‘exchange’ between Suriname

This paper is drawn from research in Paramaribo (Suriname) and Rotterdam, in the context of the Dutch and Surinamese official sponsorship which shaped two art exhibitions in 2010.

Panel Discussion, Networks of Contemporary Art

Panel discussion: Networks of Contemporary Art Chair: Kitty Zijlmans This panel explores how networks of art practice, curating, art policies and museums may help to form a sustainable community for the Caribbean and its global diaspora. The overall aim of the project is to foster networks of exchange and collaboration among academics, artists, curators and policymakers from the UK and the Netherlands as well as various countries in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean and their diasporas. How might existing networks and future ones interact?

Closing remarks, Leon Wainwright

Özkan Gölpinar, Postcolonial melancholia

Postcolonial melancholia This presentation focuses on displaced images, ideas, memories and artistic approaches in an era of postcolonial melancholia, with attention to two exhibitions: SPAN (curated by Chris Cozier/Thomas Meijer zum Slochteren) and Paramaribo Perspectives (Mariette Dölle/Özkan Gölpinar).

Nancy Jouwe, Mapping Slavery NL 

Mapping Slavery NL In 2013, the cultural and heritage sectors in the Netherlands faced stormy weather: severe budget cuts were rife and diversity policies were considered outdated. Hence, key postcolonial institutions a. have been disbanded: • Ninsee (National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy) in 2012 • Museum Maluku and Museum Nusantara in 2012 • The Tropical Institute Library (closed Jan 2014) b. are fighting for their survival: • the Tropenmuseum has been cut in half and has merged with two other museums

Wayne Modest, New Roots: Caribbean Ontologies from Africa to the Ghetto 

New Roots: Caribbean Ontologies from Africa to the Ghetto Between July 28 and November 2, 2013 the National Gallery of Jamaica staged its exhibition, New Roots:10 Emerging Artists, with an ambitious set of accompanying public events. 

Therese Hadchity, Lost in translation: Reflections on contemporary Barbadian art and the migration of criticality 

Lost in translation: Reflections on contemporary Barbadian art and the migration of criticality For the past decade, the discourse on visual art in the Anglophone Caribbean has predominantly been informed by a position which seeks to avoid the ‘commodification’ or ‘politicization’ of meaning by departing from the notion of ‘locality’. It refuses ‘the Caribbean’ as an interpretive lens and focuses instead on the fluidity of the diasporic experience, on hybridity, liminality and perpetually deferred meaning.

Joy Gregory, Artists in the archives of the lost and forgotten

Artists in the archives of the lost and forgotten When Derek Bishton and his wife Merrise bought a small beach house retreat in Reading, just outside Montego Bay, they discovered among the things left in the property a storeroom filled with dressmaking materials. They belonged to Trevor Owen, the former owner of the house, who had passed away a few years previously. My interest in forgotten or marginalised historical figures such as Matron Bell and Mary Seacole led to an invitation by Derek to create an event which would cast new light on the life of Trevor Owen.

Jynell Osborne, Sustainable art communities in Guyana

Sustainable Art Communities in Guyana “A nation’s culture is its lifestyle and influences the way in which it assesses itself. Culture provides the framework within which the nation identifies its priorities and goals.